Yuri!!! on Ice is a Japanese sports anime television series about figure skating in which the main characters own Poodles (for anyone just joining the planet, anime is a style of hand-drawn and computer animation that originated in Japan).
Yuri on Ice has a huge following, and has garnered awards at anime festivals and competitions. In 2016, it was the most tweeted anime show according to a report from an analytics company: Over 1.4 million tweets were posted about Yuri on Ice between Nov. 24 and Dec. 14, compared to just 348,109 about the second most popular show, volleyball anime Haikyu.
It’s also been praised by professional figure skaters, some of whom performed to music from the show in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
It’s not without its critics. Some don’t like the way the same-sex relationship between the protagonists are portrayed, but other critics praise it for covering the topic in a way different from most anime and manga.
As for the dogs, one of them is “Makkachin,” a large, silver-beige Standard Poodle who is constant companion to Victor Nikiforov, and “Vicchan,” a Toy Poodle.
To anyone new to Yuri on Ice (ok, us), the plots read like soap operas. Here’s one story line summary we found:
In Moscow, the Rostelecom Cup event will determine the last four spots among the six skaters left in the competition. Yuri K. skates flawlessly, while Yuri P. performs well, but messes up his first jump as he was bothered by his grandfather’s absence and still bitter about Victor being Yuri K.’s coach. In the end, Yuri K. places second and Yuri P. places third in the short program. Yuri K. gets a call from his sister that Victor’s poodle, Makkachin, has got buns stuck in his throat and is in critical condition. Yuri remembers how he couldn’t be there when his own dog died and urges Victor to return to Japan. Reluctant to leave Yuri alone for the free program, Victor asks his own coach, Yakov, to be Yuri’s coach in his absence, much to everyone’s shock.
Devoted fans love the series, and it didn’t take long for businesses to notice. The series has inspired products from a Makkachin Tissue Case and crochet tutorial, to a phone case and life sized plush toy versions of both Poodles.